Shock absorber



May 29. 1928.

R. H. TRAV 1,611,658 ERS SHOCK ABSORBER May 29, 1928. A 1,671,658

. R. H. TRAVERS SHOCK ABsoRBER Filed Dec. 5, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m6 7LZfOf,

Patented May 29, 1928.

STATES RICHARD H. TRAVERS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

snoox ABsonBER.

Application ined December This invention relates to improvements indevices for controlling or modifying the reltive movement of bo ies, andis particularly adapted, 'though not necessarily limited in its use, inconnection with vehicle supporting whereby the excessive vibration of tespr-mg and thersudden shocl; or jolting' of the vehicle willbe overcome,and is adapt,- ed t be applied to a vehicle in :such a way as to permitfree yieldinr of the springs under compressive stresses but to modify'and control the reflex action or rebound of the sprin s. c ,y

A itli'er object is to provide an improved device of this characterembodying electromagnetic means for retarding or controlling the'reeiraction of the spring, and improved ineans whereby the intensity of themagnetic Held may be varied at will, thereby enabling an extremel widerange of degree of resistance possible "to create by the use of thisdevice.` 4

To, the attainment of these ends and the accomplishment of other new anduseful fr )bjeets as will appear, the invention consists inthe featuresof novelty in substantially the construction, combination andarrangement of the several parts hereinafter more fully described andclaimed and shown in the accompanying drawings illustrating thisinventionfand in which:

Figurel is a view partly in side elevation and partly in verticalsection, with vparts broken away, rof a vehicle spring, having a shockabsorber constructed in accordance With the principles of this inventionapplied thereto.y l i l Figure'2 is a view taken on line 2-2, Figure 1.*Y

Figure 3 is a right hand elevation 'of Figure 2.

Figure Ltis a detail sectional view taken on line 1r-f4, Figure 3. ,n

Figure 5 is ay wiringdiagram.

Referring more particularly tothe draw? ings thenumerals y and 11designate two bodies, the relative movements of which it is desired tocontrol, such as a portion of the vframe of a vehicle and a vehiclespringer,y to whichlatter is secured in the usual manner, theriiXle 12.V

The numeral 13 designates the coreof an electro-magnetic device such asa solenoid which isarranged within a casing 14, the casing beingsecuredas at l5 to the body or member 10,

3, 192e. serial no. 152,316.

The casing 14 is of an internal diameter somewhat greater than'the coreof the solenoid so that the windinvs 16 may be housed betweenl the coreand tie casing. One end of the winding is grounded as at 17 andthe other'end 18 of the winding is connected with 'a member 19 arranged within ahousing 20. The 'member 19 is preferably in the foi-m' fof a spring, oneend of which is anchored as at`21, the anchor screw lforming a bindingpost or terminal for the end 18 o1 the windingsl of the magnet.

The member 19 is provided with an elongated 'opening 22 therethrough andin this Opening is arranged an anti-friction roller 23, ,the member 19carrying at its free end a Contact point 24.

One end of the armature of the solenoid telescopes into the core 13 ofthe magnet, and the free end of the armature is connected with the bodyor spring 11 in any suitable manner, such as vby means of a ball andsocket joint formed by shaping the end of the armature 26 into a balladapted to be Seated in a -seat 27 carried by a member 28 fastened tothe aX'le 12 by means oi' the usual clips 29.

A split washer 30 is provided to encompass the armature above the ball26 and a cap 31 is threaded upon the seat l27 for holding the partstogether. The cap is yprovided with an opening 32 of a diameter somewhatlarger than thegr'eatest diameter of the'ball 26, so as to permit ofassembling of the parts and at the saine time to permit of a freepivotal or universal movement of the armature 25 with respect tothemember or body 11,

It will therefore be seen that as the members `1() and 11 are movedrelatively towards each other one with relation to the other thearmature 25 will Islide within the magnet and the ball and socket jointwill prevent binding of the parts and will permit such movement of thearmature.` l

Connected with the armature is a rod 33 preferably formed of anysuitable insulating material. This rod 33 isgu'ided throughv an opening321 in the bottoni of the chamber in which the member 19'` is arrangedyand a gucildeway 35. is also provided forV guiding the ro 33. i v

` The rod Syis held against lateral.l movement by reason o itsattachment with the armature 25 and thegu'ides and the stress vof thespring 19' tends to hold the roller :23 Contact with the rod 33, so thatwhen the lil spring or body 11 moves upwardly towards the bodyor-inember 10, the frictional ,binding between the roller 23 and the rod33 will cause the rod to raise or deflect the spring 19 so as to movethe contact 24 carried by the spring out of engagement with the contact36, the latter being connected by means of a conductor 37 to thesourceof supply ofL electric energy.

When the members 10 and 11 are relativelyr moved in a direction toseparate them the rod 33'will be lowered, and as the member respect tothe member 19.

Thus it will be seen that by the relative movement of the members orbodies 10 and 11 in one direc-tion with respect [to each other thecontacts 243b A will be separated, while the relative movement ofthemembers or bodies 10l and 11 in the opposite ldirection will causethe contact members 24 and 36 to be brought into engagement and themagnet will then be energized, to create a resistance .between thesolenoid and the armature 25 and thereby retard the relative movement ofthe bodies or members 10 and 11 in one direction. Y v Any suitable meansmaybe provided for controlling the magnet and forl varying the intensityof the magnetic field. i

,This is accomplished preferably by means of a rheostat 38 which lisarranged in the conductor 37, the switch ormember 39 of the rheostatybeing connected by means of a conductor 40 with a battery 41, thebattery being grounded on'one side as at 42.

The rheostat 38 and the switch 39 are arranged in a convenient'positionfor the op eratorand if this device isused in connec- When the switch ormember 39A engages 'i the stop 43 the magnetic field will be of thegreatest intensity. u

Should it be desired to render the magnet inactivevthe switch ormember.` 39 may be moved off ofthe contacts of the rheostat 38 until itengages a stop device 44.

With this improved construction it will beV manifest that the relativemovement of these two bodies may be controlled and that the magnetwillbe responsive in its operation to the relative movement of thebodies l0 and 1l in one direction so that the relaor modified by themagnet and armatureV constituting the shock absorbing or anti- Ivibrating device.

lhile the preferred form of the invention has been herein shown anddescribed it is to be understood that various changes may be made in thedetails of construction and in the combination and arrangement of theseveral parts, within the scope of the claims, without departing fromthe spirit of this invention, and whilethe device isy herein shown asbeing used in connection with vehicleV springs, it is also to beunderstood that itis capable of eflicient yuse in connection with otherrelatively moving bodies, the lrelative movement of which it is desiredto control.' l v i v What is claimed as new`is:-`

1. An anti-vibrationdevice comprising'a magneticallycontrolled mechanismfor a vehicle body supporting spring capable of exerting magnetresistance to movements of the spring in one direction, and meansresponsive to thev movement of the spring in one 'direction forcontrolling the magnet to retard the succeeding'v movement of the springin the other direction.

2. The combination with a pair of relaitively'movable members, a 'shockabsorber interposed between said members and operating to permit a freeyielding relative movement of said members in one direction, said shockabsorber embodying means for electrically retarding or controlling therelative movement of said members in the opposite direction, and meansfor controlling at will the operation of the said shock absorber.

3. A shock absorber embodying a magnetically controlled mechanism for avehicle body supporting spring capable of exerting magnetic resistanceto movements of the spring in one direction, means responsive to themovement of the spring in one direction, for controlling the magnet toretard the successive movement of the spring in the other direction, andmeans for controlling at will the intensity of the field of the saidmechanism. i

4. The combination of a vpair of relatively movable bodies, a shockabsorber interposed between said bodies, said shockabsorber embodying asolenoid connected with one of the said bodies and an armature connectedwith the other of said bodies, and means for automatically energizingand deenergizing the solenoid whereby the shock absorber will permit afree relative movement of the said bodies in one direction and willretard or control the relative imovement of the said bodies in theopposite'direction.

5. The combination of a pair of relatively movable bodies, a shockabsorber interposed between said bodies, said shock absorber emllObodies in the opposite direction, and means for varying the intensity ofthe magnetic 10 field.

In testimony whereof I have Signed m name to this specication, on this29th day of November, A. D. 1926.

RICHARD H. TRAVERS.

